Aesthetic Narrative Study Of The Image Of Horses In Lu Song

Different from the traditional researches towards Lu Song which deemed the horeses as supplementary materials to show Lu Hou's heroic exploits,but neglected their specific functions in the text,this thesis will concentrate on the narrations which are concerned with the horses and differentiate the particular ritual patterns insinuated by horses in the context of Pre-Qin Dynasty.Accordingly,I will draw out and interpret the hidden ritual structures in Lu Song on the basis of depictions about horsesFirstly,I will make it clear that the narrations about horses are the cores of the text.Dated back to the context of the Pre-Qin Dynasty,the functions of horeses can be divided into four types,being used for daily life,military affairs,sacrifice and taken as a kind of value.Therefore,horeses in Lu Song are more than just animals in nature,that definitely cover some profound cultural functions.Then based on the text,I will confirm the key positions of narrations towards horses in the respective context and analyze the narrative strategies which are unfolded through central pattern,leading pattern as well as embeding pattern.After the confirmation of its key position,this thesis will further differentiate and analyze the nature of rituals in terms of the narrations towards horeses.I will point out the specific ritual patterns in aid of ancient books and records as well as unearthed materials in the Pre-Qin period.In fact,the narrations towards horeses refer to three ritual types,namely,the ritual of advanced sacrifice,the ritual of ancestral temples and the ritual of military.As far as the particular ritual patterns are concerned,.Jiong refers to the rite of raising horses,You Bi refers to the rite of feast,Pan Shui refers to the ritual of offering captives respectfully and Bi Gong refers to the rite of Military expedition and Ancestor worship in four seasons.Based on these restorations above,this thesis finally breaks the limitations of these four texts in Lu Song,deems the narrations in respective texts as a whole.After its reorganization,it is explicit that there is a chain of rituals in which raising horses is intended for the future and this sort of narrative is transfered from the stable to seperate ritual situations,which is the whole ritual structure hidden in Lu Song.In the Pre-Qin period,horses are endowed with two functions which are consisted of sacrifice and public activities.Accordingly,this sort of narrative made up of chain of rituals displays the political structure which endeavors to revive country by means of horses.It hints the operations of Lu and can be deemed as the foundation which was used for the stableness of country and the normal operations of social order.As suggested above,this thesis obtains two achievements in the research of Lu Song:One is the narrative consisted of chain of rituals is a whole structure implied in the text of Lu Song.The other one is that the structure also refers to the maintenance of social order and the governance of country which relies on horses to prospe.Therefore,Lu Song is an comprehensive text which is endowed with multidimensional functions and multifarious meanings.